Evander Kane's physicality helps Oilers push Golden Knights to brink of elimination

This isn’t the first time Evander Kane has been a pain to the Golden Knights, and he has helped bring a physicality to the Edmonton Oilers that has them one game from eliminating Vegas.

It's similar in the Florida-Toronto series, where the heat is rising as the stakes get higher.

In other words, it's the NHL playoffs.

For the Golden Knights, this is like a throwback — but not in a good way. Former Vegas enforcer Ryan Reaves had a long-running feud with Kane when the latter played for San Jose, which helped bleed into contempt between the teams.

The fact they were Pacific Division rivals that also met in the playoffs in 2018 and 2019 took their games up a level. The Golden Knights won the 2018 series and the Sharks got revenge in a memorable seven-game victory the following year.

So, of course, Kane is playing another big role role against the Golden Knights. He has two goals and two assists and has helped bring a key physical element to the Oilers, especially in Monday night's 3-0 Game 4 victory.

“It wears other teams down and it keeps guys on their toes,” Kane said of the physicality. “We got some turnovers off of that. I thought we were able to create some offensive opportunities. We didn't take our foot off the gas."

Kane missed the entire regular season because of two surgeries to repair a number of issues, but hasn't needed much time to transition his way back into the lineup.

“He likes the competition,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He likes the level of intensity, and the game means more this time of the year. He rises to that occasion where you see other guys maybe wilt.”

The Florida-Toronto series is tied — and heated.

The Maple Leafs won Games 1 and 2 on their home ice, the Panthers won Games 3 and 4 on their home ice, and that span has seen both good play and bad blood. The Panthers are waiting to see if forward Evan Rodrigues — the recipient of a high hit from former teammate Oliver Ekman-Larsson in Game 4 — will be cleared to play in Game 5.

That wasn’t the end of the Game 4 shenanigans, either. Toronto’s Max Domi appeared to blindside the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov with a hit at the end of regulation that led to four misconduct penalties, along with a suggestion from Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk to the Leafs’ William Nylander that a response would be coming from the defending Cup champions on Wednesday.

“He probably didn’t even hear him,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said of Nylander. “He doesn’t hear me.”

When/Where to Watch: Game 5, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT (ESPN)

Series: Oilers leads 3-1

Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner was benched after the first two games in the opening round series against Los Angeles before Calvin Pickard came to rescue before reeling off six consecutive victories.

That included the first two games of this series.

But with Pickard day to day with a lower-body injury, it's Skinner's turn to play hero. He recorded a 23-save shutout on Monday to put the Oilers on the brink of advancing to the Western Conference final.

“Stuart made some big saves, especially early in the game when there were some times Vegas had the opportunity to get back in the game,” Knoblauch said. “He has a lot of pride. He puts pressure on himself to have success, and it was nice to see him get that shutout.”

When/Where to Watch: Game 5, Wednesday, 7 p.m. EDT (ESPN)

Series: Series tied 2-2.

The series is tied. Games, 2-2. Goals, Florida leads 14-13. The Panthers are delivering more hits, the Maple Leafs are blocking more shots. Add hits and blocks up, and it comes out basically even — 60 a game for Toronto, 59 a game for Florida.

“It’s a best-of-three now,” Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky said.

Welcome to the swing game. In NHL history, when a best-of-seven series is tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has gone on to prevail 79% of the time.

That goes up to 100% so far this postseason; four series were tied 2-2, and the Game 5 winner has won them all — all in Round 1 in the Western Conference. The Vegas-Minnesota, Edmonton-Los Angeles, Winnipeg-St. Louis and Dallas-Colorado series were all tied 2-2; Vegas, Edmonton and Dallas all won Game 5 and closed those matchups out in six games, while Winnipeg won Game 5 and went on to win Game 7 in an overtime thriller.

Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz, who was injured in Game 1 of the series, returned to practice Tuesday. Berube, however, said he didn't know when Stolarz would play again.

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl